JPS5971A - Drip monitor apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION l) Background of the Invention Intravenous fluid infusion devices are used in many medical applications to inject nutrients, blood, drugs, etc. into patients. Intravenous monitoring devices typically include a fluid supply line connected to a dropper and extending to an intravenous needle for injection into a patient's intravenous injection point, and a container suitable for injecting a solution. . Tube clamps are typically installed along the supply line to control the flow of the liquid being injected. Proper and reliable control of the rate and volume of infusion of these fluids is essential to patient management and recovery. Appropriate injection rates and volumes may vary from a few cubic centimeters per hour to a few cubic centimeters per minute. Therefore,
Accurate continuous monitoring and control of infusion rate and dose is critical.

Previously, the methods used to monitor and control the rate and volume of injections took an hour and had limited accuracy. Typically, the flow rate is set by the nurse by counting the drops per minute that fall from the container. Therefore, determining velocity is time consuming, difficult, and inaccurate. Little or no correction is usually made for clearing needle blockages due to flow rate fluctuations or clotting, etc., because of the severe pressure on the caregiver's time. Such blockages, if not easily noticed, can be dangerous to the patient and require time-consuming and uncomfortable needle changes to resume flow. A similar problem occurs when an empty bottle goes unnoticed.

The prior art also provides injection monitoring devices that monitor the amount injected using photoelectric sensing means. but,
In such devices, the cartridge and sensing device are connected to the fluid supply assembly by quite complex and complex fastening means. This requires complex positioning of the optical sensing device and more complex monitoring equipment.

2) SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention circumvents the above-mentioned obstacles and has as one of its objects an improved drip monitoring device that automatically and continuously monitors and adjusts the desired flow rate.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved drip monitoring device that is light and simple so that it can be hung directly from a drip tube.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved infusion monitor that continuously indicates the amount of fluid being infused into a patient.

Another object of the invention is that when administered in a desired amount,
To provide an improved drip monitoring bag that can be preset to block flow.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved system with an alarm system that provides a signal to the patient's side or the nurse's desk, or both, to alert the nurse to fluctuations or cessations in the preset infusion rate. An object of the present invention is to provide an infusion monitoring device.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent upon understanding the illustrative embodiments hereinafter described, and various advantages not mentioned herein will occur to those skilled in the art when using the invention in practice. You can think of it.

According to the invention, the instrument is equipped with a photoelectric device that detects the droplet drop rate and counts the number of drops injected. By presetting the device to a predetermined number of drops per cubic centimeter (cc), the number of drops counted by the optical device is converted to a volume injected. This amount is displayed continuously on the instrument. A plastic fluid supply tube extends from the dropper to the syringe needle and is attached to a squeezing mechanism operated by a motor within the instrument that automatically squeezes or releases the fluid supply tube.

By presetting the desired drip rate, the clamper automatically squeezes or releases to adjust the tube to allow the desired rate of drip to be injected. This instrument also. The amount of liquid to be injected can be preset so that when the desired amount is reached, the device commands the squeezer to completely tighten the tube and cut off flow. High-speed and low-speed alarms may be provided that provide both light and audible alarms and alert the nurse when the flow is continuous, the bag is empty, or there is an electrical fault. A continuous alarm may be provided to issue a continuous alarm. This same information can also be communicated to the nurse's desk or other alarm devices in the child.

The IJ tube of the present invention is lightweight so that it can be hung directly from the drip tube with the entire circuit inside and the battery. Therefore, droplets coming out of the drip tube can be detected by the photoelectric detection device of the present invention. This can be done without complex tightening and sensing devices.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS.
It is equipped with an IJ Tsuji 1, in which an electric eyesight element and a battery are housed together. The infusion solution is typically contained in a transparent container 20, which may be a rigid or flexible container, and may be made of glass-lined plastic material. The container 20 has a hanging hole 21 at the top, and the container 20 can be hung from the hook 22 of the intravenous injection stand through the hole.
There is an outlet pipe 2 at the bottom of the container 20. The container 20 may also be provided with a visual measuring scale 2u so that the nurse can visually determine the amount of liquid remaining in the container.

Dropper assembly 15 fits into outlet tube 25 . The dropper 15 is provided with an upper flange at its top and is configured such that a hollow liquid supply pipe can be attached to the bottom. The dropper 15 is a hollow structure, preferably made of transparent plastic or glass material, as is common in products of that type. An intravenous injection needle is attached to the lower end of the fluid supply pipe 27, and the needle 28 can be inserted into the patient to supply fluid to the patient. When injecting fluid into a patient, the nurse configures the cartridge 1 for the desired rate, volume, and type of infusion (described in more detail below), indicates the infusion process, and determines whether the battery is charged and A display device 2 (described later) is provided which indicates whether the injection rate is slow, fast, slow or just right. The cartridge is equipped with a plurality of switch assemblies IJ 3.4 and 5 that can be used to preset the desired volume, desired speed and desired infusion type. The number of drops per CG is preset as instructed on the dropper, and the counted number of drops is converted to the amount injected. A charging jack and a nurse paging outlet 6 may be provided.

At the rear of the cartridge 1 is provided a clamp assembly in the form of a double-armed lever 9 mounted pivotably on a pivot 11.

The clamp assembly 9 has a clamp 10 at the end of its upper arm and a mirror handle 12 used to open and close the clamp 10 at the end of its lower arm. A wire hinge 1 with a flat arched portion 17 rests against the upper dropper flange of the dropper 15. The dropper 15 is adapted to be placed behind the cartridge 1;
It is held in place by a spring loaded clamp 10.

It will be seen from this construction that the cooperation of the wire hinge 13 and the clamp 1° together with the mounting surface 16 allows the cartridge 1 to be quickly and easily attached to the dropper 15. The flange ill of the dropper 15 extends above the upper edge of the cartridge 1, and the hinge 13
5 overlies and leans against the flange 14 so that the mounting of the cartridge 1 is held against the surface 16. Therefore, the cartridge 1 can be assembled into the dropper 5 very quickly and easily and removed from the dropper 5 just as easily.

The concave holder 16 includes a pair of vertically aligned light sensing holes 26 through which the sensing beam from the sensing device can pass. These detection luminous fluxes are
Since droplets are detected as they go down through the lower container 15,
The injection rate can be determined by counting the number of droplets. A flexible liquid supply tube emerges from the dropper 15, which can be crushed to narrow the inner passageway to reduce or completely stop the amount of liquid being injected, and conversely to stop the crushing effect on the tube 27. The inner passageway of the tube is widened to allow more liquid to be injected.

The cartridge 1 is configured to automatically apply and remove pressure from the liquid supply pipe 27 to narrow the inner passageway.

An automatic squeezing assembly 30 is provided to increase the size. The squeeze assembly has a squeeze notch on one end.
The pipe hook has a notch 35 and an arm 51i having a handle 514'i at the other end. The arm 51 is connected by a downwardly biased spring 5 to a bracket 56, which is operatively connected to a motor M for raising and lowering the squeeze assembly 50. Commanding the motor M to raise the squeeze assembly 30 crushes the tube 27 between the squeeze notch 32 and the underside of the cartridge 1, narrowing the feed tube 270 passage. Commanding motor M to lower the squeeze assembly removes the pressure on tube 27 and enlarges the passageway of tube 27 to allow for a larger volume of liquid to be injected. As will be explained later, the motor M can be commanded to crush the liquid supply pipe 27 to completely stop the flow of liquid. Before starting the liquid supply operation, the liquid supply pipe 27 is not only inserted into the squeezing notch 52, but also the pipe hook is looped around the notch 5, so that the pipe 27 hangs loosely and closes the passage under its own weight. Try not to narrow it down.

Referring now to Figures 5.6A, 6B and 7, details of preferred electrical circuitry for use with the present invention are shown.The power supply and electrical circuitry are illustrated.

Preferably it is completely inside the cartridge l so that it can be hung in a dropper.

The electrical circuit derives its power from a battery (which may include a charging device) and includes a light emitting diode and phototransistor combination diode D1 and a transistor Q1. Diode D1 is biased on so that transistor Q1 is also turned on. When a droplet falling through the dropper 15 passes between the diode D1 and the transistor Q1, it is detected through the sensing hole 26 in the cartridge 1. When a droplet passes by, transistor Q1 is momentarily cut off and generates a pulse that goes negative. This negative null pulse is connected by capacitor C1 to pin l of ICI, which is a 6-inverter. Five of the six inverters on this chip (11069) are used to shape the pulse into a negative square wave. This negative square wave is ICI
It appears on bin g of 4 and is directly connected to pin 1 of Ilj, which is a 4-Nand Schmitt trigger chip (CD11095). The first stage of this chip, which has an output on bin 5, is activated when the output on bin 8 of the ICI is high;
It is used as an oscillator which is cut off when the pin 8 goes low. The duration of the oscillation interruption is therefore the time between successive drops. The frequency of oscillation is controlled by resistor R6, which is a potentiometer operated on the front panel. The frequency and duration of the oscillation are determined by the counter I
Controls the number of counts performed by C2 (CD11520).

The display device of the invention is formed by ICl0 in conjunction with part of IC2 and IC3 and by light emitting diodes D11 to D6 displaying lights on the front panel.

Indicator light 6 is 1 slow 1. W Tune 1 and "Speed 1" are marked. When the drop count is greater than that required by the setting of potentiometer R6, the "Speed" light emitting diode is illuminated. The 'slow' light emitting diode lights up when it is slower than the 'slow' light emitting diode.

The ICI stage with an output on pin 10 is an IK initiator that is activated to drive a speaker and constitute an alarm signal when the requested count is not being delivered. When the drip stops, one oscillator turns on and stays on, so the alarm will not change until the nurse corrects the situation. The output at pin 10 of IC3 also enables another oscillator whose output is at pin 4 of I-(l and connected to the DC power line by capacitor C9. The output of that oscillator is connected to the DC power line by capacitor C9. Q2 and relay RL
',1 in conjunction with closing switch S5 to enable the alarm in the nurse's room.

■CI+ is a binary counter that counts the number of drops indicated by the pulse from pin 8 of %IC'l. ■CI
The + output is provided to a double 4-AND gate, IC5, and a set of diodes DI through D9. These diodes are connected to position switch assembly S2 (
It is connected to IC6 through S) in FIG. 2, and only one of the diodes can be accommodated at a time. The one position of S2 not connected to the diode is used to turn on an audible alarm. The other three positions indicate which output is the IC
Used to select which input should be connected to 6. The outputs of the two 1-and-1 gates and the direct output from IC'14 are weighted. Each output corresponds to a certain number of droplets per CC. In this way, the reading of the IO3 satisfies the total accumulation of cc sent out and the desired droplet pair C
Switch S2 can be set to indicate the C ratio. Similarly,
The switches 1 and 1 each consist of a plurality of sets of diodes and resistors, as shown in FIG. 7, and can be used to preset the volume and drop rate. The number of droplets per cc.

The droplet 15 is set in advance so that the divided number of droplets corresponds to the amount to be injected.

The DC power supply/charger consists of transformer windings T1, T2 and bridge rectifier IC9 and filter capacitor C12.
'((Includes. Resistors R12 and R13 and Zener diode Z1 constitute an adjustment circuit, and Zener diode Z
1 and the diode DIO is maintained at 6.2 V. Diode DIO blocks any reverse current from the battery and drops another 0.7V. The charging current is
limited by resistors R12 and R13.

The drive circuit for the motor M includes transistors Q3 to Q6 and diodes D15 to Dllll! i, along with its associated circuitry. Motor M is.

It is connected to the speed 7 and slow 1 circuit elements of ICl0 so that the motor M is started by a command from the F speed 1 or "slow" circuit. Motor M is connected to transistor Q5~
Controlled by Q5 or transistors Qll-Q6. When the 7" or 1 slow 1 circuit element of ICl0 indicates that the speed is out of sync, i.e. either faster or slower than the preset speed, the transistor assembly Q3-Q5 or Q14-Q6 , and moves the motor in either direction to either squeeze the feed tube 27 to narrow the flow or loosen the feed tube 27 to increase the flow. This occurs at the point where the quantities are in phase, at which point there is no pulse from the 'speed'-1 delay circuit element and the motor stops. As will be seen later, if the speed is tuned to the preset value, there is no pulse and the motor M remains inactive. When commanded by the cc measurement circuitry, the motor will completely stop flow after delivering a preset number of cc's to the patient.

The motor is in the 'maximum compression' state.

Therefore, the present invention can be easily suspended from a dropper, automatically and continuously monitor and adjust the desired flow rate, and continuously direct the amount of fluid injected into the patient. When administered, it can be preset to control the injected flow or block the flow, and can be placed at the patient's side or at the nurse's desk to alert the nurse to fluctuations or cessation of the preset infusion rate. It will be appreciated that an improved drip monitoring device is provided which includes an alarm device that provides a signal to the patient.

Although the present invention has been described as an infusion monitoring device for delivering fluids to a patient for medical purposes, it will be appreciated that the device can be used to monitor the infusion of fluids for purposes other than medical purposes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the infusion monitoring device of the present invention in use to administer fluids to a patient. FIG. 2 is a front view of the cartridge of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a rear view showing the device in the first operating position, FIG. 4 is a partial elevational view showing the automatic tube pressure mechanism, and FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing the circuit used in the present invention. 6A and 6B are schematic diagrams showing the circuit in detail, and FIG. 7 is another schematic diagram showing the circuit in more detail. 1--Cartridge, 9--Clamp assembly. 10--Clamp, 12--One mirror handle, 15-Wire hinge. 15-1 dripping pipe, 16--dropper installation direction, 20-1 liquid container, 26--light detection hole, 27--liquid supply pipe, 30-1 liquid supply pipe compressor, 1-1 compressor Arm, 32-1 compression notch. Rau pipe is Notsuchi, 311-1 press machine. 55--Spring, 36--Bracket, M--Motor.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. An infusion device including a liquid container, a flexible injection tube operatively associated with the liquid container, and a dropper assembly interposed between the container and the injection tube. In. means for presetting the amount of liquid to be injected; means for monitoring the amount of liquid to be injected by sensing droplets passing through the dropper assembly, a pair of light emitting diodes and phototransistors and directing a sensing beam from the light emitting diode toward the dropper assembly; means for monitoring the amount of liquid to be injected, including a pair of sensing holes; and means for acting on the injection tube to automatically increase or decrease the amount of liquid to be injected to match a preset amount; an injection tube squeezing assembly comprising an arm having a notch adapted to squeeze the injection tube; and a drive mechanism for moving the arm up and down via a motor in accordance with commands from the monitoring means. With automatic injection liquid volume adjustment means. Liquid injection monitoring device with 2. An infusion device comprising a liquid container, a flexible injection tube operatively associated with the liquid container, and a dropper assembly interposed between the container and the injection tube. a cartridge; means within the cartridge for presetting the amount of liquid to be injected; means within the cartridge for presetting the number of droplets per cubic centimeter; a pair of light emitting diodes and phototransistors and directing a sensing beam from the light emitting diodes toward the dropper assembly; means for monitoring the amount of liquid passing through the dropper assembly; and an injectate volume monitoring means including a pair of sensing holes. Means located within the cartridge and acting on the injection tube to automatically increase or decrease the amount of liquid to be injected to correspond to a preset amount. an arm having a notch adapted to engage and squeeze the injection tube; a bracket connected to the arm via a spring; and an arm fixed to the cartridge and having a shaft attached to the bracket. Automatic injection liquid volume adjusting means comprising an injection tube squeezing assembly, which is connected to a motor that raises and lowers the bracket according to commands from the injection liquid volume monitoring means. A wire hinge at the top of the cartridge and a dropper assembly receiver at the rear of the cartridge are attached to the cartridge and cooperate with the wire hinge to spring pressure the cartridge into the dropper assembly. and a clamping means for holding the infusion monitoring device, wherein all electrical circuit components used for each of the means, including a power supply device, are mounted within the cartridge. 3. The drip monitoring device of claim 2, wherein the pair of detection holes are on a surface of the dropper assembly receiver.